MCAN Climate Minute - A Time to Plant

A time to sow, a time to reap.  That's what this week's Climate Minute is about.  What seems like a lull in the action is really the calm before the storm.  A lot of what happens 6, 12, or 18 months from now will be ordained by actions we take today.  So let's get busy! Click on the “MCAN Climate Minute” picture to the right to start the recording in a new window. Here are some links to keep you busy in the meantime. As we mentioned, Rep. Tom Conroy and Sen. Michael Barrett proposed a carbon tax legislation, currently numbered House Docket 3422, but it will eventually be assigned a "real" number and sent to a committee.  To follow legislation as it makes its way through the process, check out the Massachusetts legislature's webiste at www.malegislature.gov. For some interesting speculation on Senator Secretary Kerry's role in the Keystone pipeline approval, check out The Energy Collective's post here.  If you've got a right-leaning friend who you'd like to convince to oppose Keystone, send them this story about a couple of Texas landowners, including a 78 year old grandmother who are being bullied by the pipeline company and having their land "stolen" under eminent domain.  Yeah, you read that right -- a Canadian company can use Texas law to take someone's private property for their use.  Great democracy you got going there... We've got ourselves another Senate race in Massachusetts, with Congressmen Markey and Lynch already in the fray, and rumors swirling about possible Republican contenders (Brown again?  Scot Lehigh has been jonesing big-time for another run by erstwhile Governor [and God's gift to reporters] Bill Weld). As you know by now, February 17th is the big day down in DC.  People will come from around the country to protest the Keystone pipeline, and you can be there!  Ted's been checking out the train schedule and of course 350MA is putting together buses. MCAN will have a speaker about the Waste and Climate connection at our next Climate Education meeting next week on February 7th in Lexington.  More information on the Lexington meeting, or our March 10th conference at Northeastern can be found on the MCAN Climate Action Calendar.  To register for the conference, go to the registration site here. For all manner of climate activities, remember to check out our climate calendar.  Catch us on Twitter, or Facebook, or just drop us an old-fashioned email at comment@massclimateaction.net. Well, that's it for this week.  As always -- remember, for these reasons we have discussed, the United States must place a price on carbon.